District 200 Oks Plan To Avert Overcrowding

October 12, 1989|By Nancy Ryan.

A plan to avert anticipated school overcrowding in the Wheaton-Warrenville Unit School District 200 by converting Wheaton Central High School to a middle school was approved by the board Wednesday night despite parental opposition.

The board supported an administration proposal to increase the number of middle schools from three to four. School officials have forecast that the middle school enrollment would increase dramatically by the year 2000.

The board`s action means that Wheaton Central will be used as a middle school, Monroe elementary school will be used as a middle school and Wheaton- Warrenville middle school will be renovated for use as a high school.

The combined capacity of the existing middle schools for 6th, 7th and 8th graders-Franklin, Edison and Wheaton-Warrenville-is 2,600 youngsters. The middle school enrollment is projected to grow to 2,614 by 1991, and school officials predict the middle school enrollment will grow to 3,038 by the year 2000.

In a series of four votes, the board supported a plan advanced by Supt. Richard Short last week suggesting that Edison, Franklin, Monroe-closed in 1983 because of declining enrollment-and part of Wheaton Central be used as middle schools, with the other part of Wheaton Central used as a ``swing school.``

``When it comes down to boundary changes, parents and children are impacted,`` said Board President D. Paul Smith, who supported the plan. ``We heard from literally hundreds of parents who came out to tell us how it would impact their families. The board tried to minimize the number of times a child would be impacted by the changes.``

But Robert Lyon, a founder of Concerned Citizens of District 200 and one of five parents who spoke out against the plan, said there is no shortage of middle school capacity and asked the board to adopt a plan supported by 235 citizens.

That plan called for using the present middle schools and construction of another middle school, if needed, with money that is destined to be used for expansion of Wheaton-Warrenville under the adopted proposal.

Following a long-range plan approved in 1987, the board agreed to seek construction bids for an estimated $7.8 million addition to Wheaton-Warrenville and restore it to its original use as a high school. The school had opened as a high school in 1972 and was converted to a middle school in 1983.

Over the next 10 years, officials expect several elementary schools to be closed, one by one, for renovation. Each time, the pupils will be shifted to a ``swing school`` for perhaps as much as one year while reconstruction and asbestos removal takes place. Monroe is being used as a ``swing school`` for youngsters from Lowell Elementary School, which is undergoing renovation.

Under the adopted proposal, Edison and Monroe also would be renovated over the next two school years and reopen by the 1992-93 school year when Wheaton-Warrenville would open as a high school. That same year, Wheaton Central would open as a middle school.

A group of parents proposed during last month`s meeting that the board eventually use Wheaton Central, Wheaton North and Wheaton-Warrenville as high schools and open four middle schools, according to board member C. James Carr. That option would require the board to construct a middle school.

``The board feels the district would be better served with two, rather than three, high schools,`` Carr said before the meeting. ``A high school is very expensive to run on an ongoing basis. The board feels that two high schools can adequately educate the number of students in our district.``

Based on demographic projections, Carr said, Wheaton`s high school population will peak out at 1,800 to 1,900 students, a manageable number for two high schools. If the number of high school students reaches 2,000 students, the board would move to expand Wheaton North and Wheaton-

Warrenville, Carr said.

Last spring, the board approved the reopening of Washington Elementary School and shifted attendance boundaries to alleviate overcrowding in other elementary schools, particularly on Wheaton`s North Side.

As enrollment increases move through the school system, the capacity of the three middle schools and two high schools will be exceeded, as have the 12 elementary schools, school officials say.

The number of students has been on the upswing since 1983. Enrollment was 9,994 then, is 11,100 and is projected to increase to 13,300 by the year 2000.